Spherical vehicles of the type having a drive shaft fixed at its opposite ends to the interior wall of a spherical shell and driven by a motor and gear assembly operatively connected to the drive shaft are known, as evidenced by U.S. Pat. Nos. 819,609 to Shorthcuse dated May 1, 1906; 2,949,696 to Easterling dated Aug. 23, 1960; and 2,949,697 to Licitis dated Aug. 23, 1960. Patent 819,609 further discloses the concept of suspending a mass from the drive shaft and manually inclining the mass to the axis of the shaft to cause the spherical member to travel in a curved path.
Heretofore, the spherical vehicles noted above either had no provision for steering the vehicle, or in the case of the Shorthcuse vehicle, the direction of travel is controlled by manually moving the mass to thereby maintain the vehicle in a fixed direction of travel until the vehicle is stopped and the mass is manually shifted to another position, whereby the vehicle will roll in another fixed direction of travel.
After considerable research and experimentation, the spherical vehicle of the present invention has been devised wherein a steering system is provided which can be continuously controlled to determine the direction of travel of the spherical vehicle while it is rolling on a supporting surface.
In one embodiment, the steering of the vehicle is remotely controlled by signals from a transmitter to a receiver and associated servo motors, speed controllers and batteries mounted within the spherical vehicle. In another embodiment, the steering is controlled by pumping fluid between two chambers mounted within the vehicle to thereby change the center of gravity of the vehicle. In yet another embodiment, the suspended mass includes a person seated in the vehicle whereby the center of gravity and hence direction of travel is manually controlled.